Anger Management Trends

As the title implies, this site will continually update changes and trends in anger management services, research,referrals and provider training. In addition, books,CDs,videos and DVDs used in anger management programs will be introduced.

Friday, May 26, 2006

To all Batterers’ Intervention Providers

The new Anderson & Anderson DVD, Session One is an excellent demonstration of how to lead domestic violence and anger management groups. It replaces the classic Anderson & Anderson domestic violence video, A Ray of Hope which has been a top seller for over ten years.

George Anderson demonstrates how a psycho-educational model should work in real life classes in which skills are being taught using client workbooks. The DVD comes with a one page exam that permits the certified batterers facilitator and/or anger management facilitator to receive 16 hours of continuing education to meet the continuing education requirements for both disciplines. Simply view the DVD, take the exam, then return it to Anderson & Anderson, and you will receive your certificate for continuing education.

This DVD can also be used for CAADAC, CADE and BBS licensees. Providers who purchase this DVD prior to June 15 will receive a free copy of Styles of Communication.

To preview Session One and Styles of Communication, click here.Or phone our office at 310-207-3591

Verbal Abuse Triggers Adult Anxiety

Source: Florida State UniversityPosted: May 22, 2006 Invisible Scars: Verbal Abuse Triggers Adult Anxiety, DepressionA new study by Florida State University researchers has found that people who were verbally abused as children grow up to be self-critical adults prone to depression and anxiety. People who were verbally abused had 1.6 times as many symptoms of depression and anxiety as those who had not been verbally abused and were twice as likely to have suffered a mood or anxiety disorder over their lifetime, according to psychology Professor Natalie Sachs-Ericsson, the study's lead author. "We must try to educate parents about the long-term effects of verbal abuse on their children," Sachs-Ericsson said. "The old saying about sticks and stones was wrong. Names will forever hurt you." Sachs-Ericsson co-authored the study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, with FSU psychology Professor Thomas Joiner and researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers studied data from 5,614 people ages 15 to 54 - a subset of the National Comorbidity Survey. The average age of the multiethnic sample was 33. The findings are significant because of the clear implications for clinical treatment. Research has shown self-critical people can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, an approach that helps people identify their irrational thought patterns and replace them with more rational thoughts, Sachs-Ericsson said. In addition, they are taught new behaviors to deal with uncomfortable situations. The high percentage of study participants who reported that they were sometimes or often verbally abused by a parent - nearly 30 percent - surprised the researchers, Sachs-Ericsson said. Verbal abuse included insults, swearing, threats of physical abuse and spiteful comments or behavior. Parents may have learned this style of parenting from their own parents, or they simply may be unaware of positive ways to motivate or discipline their children, Sachs-Ericsson said. They may also have a psychiatric or personality disorder that interferes with their parenting abilities. Over time, children believe the negative things they hear, and they begin to use those negative statements as explanations for anything that goes wrong. For instance, a child who does not get invited to a party or does poorly on a test will think the reason is because he or she is no good if that is the message conveyed by a parent. This pattern of self-criticism continues into adulthood and has been shown to make an individual more prone to depression and anxiety. To assess self-criticism, researchers asked participants to respond to statements such as, "I dwell on my mistakes more than I should," and "There is a considerable difference between how I am now and how I would like to be." Those who had been verbally abused were more likely to be self-critical than those who were not. Those who suffered parental physical abuse (6.6 percent) or sexual abuse by a relative or stepparent (4.5 percent) also were more self-critical, but the researchers determined that self-criticism may not have been as important a factor in the development of depression and anxiety for physically and sexually abused participants as it was for those who experienced verbal abuse. "Childhood abuse of any type has the potential to influence self-critical tendencies," she said. "Although sexual and physical abuse don't directly supply the critical words like 'you're worthless,' the overall message conveyed by these kinds of abuse clearly does."

Friday, May 12, 2006

When Athletes Behave Badly

-----------------------------------------------------------WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ATHLETES BEHAVE BADLYBy Dan DalyTHE WASHINGTON TIMES-----------------------------------------------------------"There are two kinds of angry people ? explosive and implosive," Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) tells Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) in "Anger Management." "Explosive is the type of individual you see screaming at the cashier for not taking his coupon. Implosive is the cashier who remains quiet day after day and then finally shoots everyone in the store. You're the cashier."

You know the sports world has slipped off its axis when minor leaguers start acting like divas. Usually, a hotshot waits until he gets to the Show before he reveals the true extent of his ego, the boundless depths of his idiocy, but patience isn't Young's strong suit. Here he is at 20, still riding buses with the Class AAA Durham Bulls, and he's already had his first nationally televised hissy fit, drawing a 50-game suspension from the International League for loosing his Louisville Slugger on an umpire.

Obviously, Delmon never learned one of baseball's cardinal rules: You can hit the cutoff man, but you can't hit the ump.

Not even a replacement ump, as was the case here. Not even if he calls you out on a pitch that conks the on-deck batter.

"I'm not really such a bad person," Young said after his penalty, believed to be a league record, was announced. "I may act up a little bit every once in a while, but I'm not really a bad person."

There's been way too much of this "acting up" lately, though ? not just by him but by other athletes ? athletes old enough to know better. And frankly, it's making me mad. The shrinking space allotted to sports pages is far too precious to be taken up with stories, one after another, about misbehaving jocks.

The NBA playoffs have been a particular embarrassment. This is supposed to be the league's time to shine, to put on its best possible face; and yet, in the first round alone, five players were suspended for various transgressions ? everything from throwing a mouthpiece at an official (Udonis Haslem) to forearming an opponent in the head (Ron Artest) to refusing to play in a game (Kenyon Martin).

You could make the argument, of course, that it's the leagues and not the players, that have changed. And, indeed, they've gotten much less tolerant of this kind of conduct. Raja Bell's necktie tackle of Kobe Bryant, for instance, really wasn't much different from Kevin McHale's horse collaring of Kurt Rambis in the 1984 NBA Finals, and yet Bell had to sit out a game and McHale didn't.

But there's a reason leagues have become less tolerant of this kind of stuff: There's more of it than ever. And in the postseason, especially, the owners want the focus to be on the games, not on Artest's and Martin's terminal knuckleheadedness.

Baseball is almost as out of control. If Julian Tavarez isn't getting a 10-day ban for punching a base runner in an exhibition game, then Jason Kendall is being given a four-game unpaid vacation for charging the mound ? or Jose Mesa is being assessed the same penalty for plunking Omar Vizquel. (Tell me, when did pitchers start throwing at singles hitters? Aren't they supposed to save the beanballs for the sluggers?)

"The game has changed," Kendall groused. "You can't even defend yourself."

As if, in the old days, they used to settle these matters with pistols at 20 paces.

Heck, there are more suspensions being handed out in baseball and basketball than in hockey. The NHL, last I checked, hadn't suspended a single player in the playoffs ? and we're halfway through the second round. Then again, maybe the players were so impoverished by the lockout that they can't afford to miss a paycheck. Still, it's good to know such behavior can be modified.

OK, I've done my venting. There are just two more things I want to say to today's athletes.

First, remember the wise words of the aforementioned Dr. Rydell: "Temper's the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it."

About Me

George Anderson,MSW,BCD,CEAP is a Psychotherapist and anger management expert. He has Post Gradute training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy from Harvard University School of Medicine.
He is a Diplomate in the American Association of Anger Management Providers and a Fellow in the American Orthopsychiatric Association.